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TAAVET HINRIKUS

ESTONIA

THE UNICORN MAN

Luke Waller

Back to the 1991 future. Newly independent Estonia, with a population of just over 1.3 million, has a GDP of a few thousand euros per person. Fewer than half its households are connected to a telephone line.

Today the country is Europe’s startup haven. Estonians brought the world Skype, the most popular Internetbased communications company, and TransferWise, a currency exchange platform so popular it could be valued at $1 billion — a so-called “unicorn” in the making.

Taavet Hinrikus, Skype’s first ever employee and the co-founder of TransferWise, is the common denominator. He is also one of the richest Estonians. Hinrikus credits his country — which he calls “startup nation” — for his entrepreneurial spirit. If you need something in Estonia, you go out and build it, he says.

“I experienced this when I started working for Skype, when it was still just an idea on the back of a napkin,” Hinrikus tells POLITICO. “We set out to build a global telco and I quickly learned that it’s possible to build a revolution with good tech skills and a clear mission.”

Hinrikus launched TransferWise in 2011, with his friend and countryman Kristo Käärmann. Their success depended on disrupting one of the world’s most lucrative and insular businesses: banking.

The idea for the company came to Hinrikus when he relocated to London for work. “I was based in London but was paid in euros. Kristo worked in London but paid an Estonian mortgage in euros,” he says. We figured out a fair way to exchange money between ourselves, using the mid-market rate.”

This year marked a turning point for TransferWise. In November, it opened its first U.S. office in Tampa, Florida, with about 50 staff, and with ambitious growth plans in place, the company now has its sights on world domination.